Fence



(No Model.)

J. B. HUNGERPORD.

, FENCE. No.- 284,207.. Patented Sept. 4, 1883 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BJHUNGEBFORD, OF HILLHOUSE, OH IO.

FENCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 284,207, dated September 4,1883. Application filed May 21, 1883. (No model.)

To. all whom it may concern: a

Be it known that 1, JOHN B. HUNGERFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hillhouse, (Leroy township,) in the county of Lake and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fences, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective, Fig. 2 a vertical transversesection, and Fig. 3 a detail, of a fence constructed in accordance with my invention.

' Like letters refer to like parts in all the figjack-frame of the fence.

Upon the jack-frame is secured a roof board or boards, 0 0, each splice jointed, as at c, and secured to the cross-piece A by a nail or nails, 0; or, if desired, atop rail may belaidwithinthe upper V of the cross-pieces A, and secured by a wire passing over said rail and under or through the lower A of the crosspieces, and upon this upper rail the roof board or boards, half-j ointed or splice-jointed, as shown, may be secured by nails. When the roof-boards are arranged in A form, as shown, additional nails, 0 are driventhroug'h one into the edge of the other.

D represents the rails, each of which is at each end notched, asat d, to embrace the rail-posts E, each of which is notched, as at e, on its inner face to receive the rails. The rail-posts may be stationed at their upper ends, asshown in dotted lines, to fit mortises in the under faces of the cross-rails, or may be secured thereto by a nail or nails, 6, as desired, said nails being driven slanting, as usual in this class of work. Wedges F are driven in be tween the posts E and over the rails D, and not only firmly. hold the rails in the notched posts, but tend to spread the upper ends thereof firmlyagainst, or into the mortises in the under surface of a the cross-piece A, the lower portions of the rail-posts being held by single bolts 6 above. their lower ends, permitting this movement, and also an inward movement, in the same degree at the lower rails, D, so that the wedges serve as a tightening means and render the whole structure exceedingly firm. The posts E may be adapted to receive ordinary .hewn rails, or the rails of a panel of ordinary picket fence, by simply setting them fartherapart. a a

The fence, as a whole, is simple, cheap, and easily constructed, and the material employed may be selected from partly-worn boardfences, and thus economyand increased service of said material may be secured.

By using a single bolt at the intersections of the bridge and cross pieces, and constructing the half-j oint roughly or loosely-an item usually accompanying the unskilled work of a majority of farmersthe binding action-of the posts upon the rails may be determined or increased by drawing the feet of the crosspieces A toward each other, and then fastening the bridge-piece Other advantages are secured by the construction disclosed, and in practice it has been demonstrated that the entire fence can be built by the farmer himself, and at a greatly-reduced cost over ordinary board fences. If de-. sired, the bridge-piece B may be below the lower rails, D.

Having described my invention and its operation, what I claim is- The combination of the halfjointed cross pieces A A, secured by a single bolt, a, the

bridge-piece B, secured thereto by single bolts 

